Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-02-10
TBS excavation of she Creat
sphinx.

TAs excavation Of she Great
Sphinx.
The last occasion on which the Great
Sphinx was cleared down to the level
on which the paws rest was in honor OF
the opening Of the Suez Canal in 1869.
The ever-drifting sand had. however,
reburied it almost to the throat when
Professor Maspero, during his last year
of office ct Boulak, began again the
work of disinterment. This work has
been going on somewhat intermittently,
for more than twelve naouths, and 10 at
the present time in active progress under
the direction of Professor Maspero's
successor, M. Grebaut. A tramway has
been laid down from the Sphinx to the
edge OF the Pyramid plateau. passing
close under the west face of the granite
building popularly, though incorrectly,
called the temple of the Sphinx, Along
this tramway light trucks convey the
sand to the point at which their contents
are discharged, the trucks being loaded
by Arabs Of both sexes and all ages, who
carry the sand upon their heads in large
fiat baskets, ascending and descending
all day long from the excavations below
to the tramway above and vice versa.
The means look cautiously inadequate
but the results are astonishing. Already
the entire forepart of the great stone
monster is laid bare, and already the
huge chest, the paws, the space between
the paws, the altar in front of them, and
the platform upon which they rest. are
once more open to the light of day. Nor
is this all. Bet reen tho Sphinx and the
edge Of the Pyramid plateau. a vast
space has also been cleared. thus bring.
ing to light fine fight of steps some
forty feet in width. These steps, which
are described by Pliny, were uncovered
by Caviglia in 1877, but have been
entirely lost to sight for nearly seventy
years.
To the right Of the Sphtnx-that is to
say, in the direction Of the granite tenn.
pie. to the southward-a further exca-
vation is in progress, the result of which
will propably confirm the surmises of
those who believe the Sphinx to stand
in the midst Of a huge artificial amphi.
theatre hewn out OF the solid rock. This
gigantic work would, of course, be con-
tsmporaneous with the Sphinx itself,
which Mariette attributed to the mythic
ages before the advent of Mena, the first
king OF the first dynasty, and which
Maspero considers to be, if not actually
pre- historic, at all events, the oldest
monument in Egypt.
From the level of the area below the
great fight of steps (which lead down,
and not up, to the Sphinx one now
measures the whole height of the huge
human. headed monster, whose battered
countenance stands out against the
cloudless sky 100 feet above. The space
between the paws is thirty.iive feet long
and ten feet wide. The paws Of the
Sphinx are covered with the scrawls of
early travellers. Prof. Maspero has, it
is understood. devoted himself to the
ungrateful and difficult task Of translat.
ing them.
NJ Grebaut's excavations are not linn.
| tied to the clearance of the Sphinx only.
Various interesting tombs have lately
been discovered in the vicinity Of the
Great Pyramid, and to the westward the
face of the L:byan cliff has been reached
where it forms the natural boundary of
the Pyramid plateaus. Some good early
rock cut tombs, with built fore-courts,
have been found in the face of this cliff,
in two of which the walled.up recesses.
or secret chambers, called "serdabs, "
which were constructed for the safe.
keeping of Itinerary portrait-sta,ues, are
yet intact with their contents. One con.
tains monoli,hic group of fou rfignres,
representing the deceased, his wife, his
brother anl O child. In another has
been found a beautiful alabaster altar,
sculptured in bass.relief with the like
ness of one Ra-ur; and on the walls of
another occurs the name of Aseska.f,
the successor of Menkara (Meucheres) Of
the fourth dynasty. By far the most in.
teresting of these recent tomb discov-
cries is that of the sepulchre of a certain
"Suten Sc" or "Royal Son." named
Kuhiu kha-f ("the glory Of Khufu'') J,
who ives probably the son Of the builder
of the Great Pyramid. The doorway of
the inner chamber of this tomb is deco.
rated in bass-relief with the earliest
representation of a column yet discov-
cred. The shaft is shown to be cylin.
drical, tapering slightly toward the top,
where it ends in a ring surmounted by
an everted capital resembling the usual
lotus capital. but without the graceful
curvature of outline which distinguishes
the lotus order. The base of the shaft
is finished by rounded drum. Ia this
interesting doorway we have the pro.
file portrait of perfect column, base,
shaft, torus and capital complete, thus
showing that as an architectural feature
re re column with all its members was
already fully developed at the time of
fourth dynasty. The celebrated tombs
OF Beni Hassan, in which occur the
earlier columns previously known, he
long to the twelfth dynasty, and are
about l 200 years later than the era OF
Khutu London Times.
Perseverance.
mot now" said Fate; but did the hero stand
With idly folded arms. and calmly wait